Max Lucado Daily: Take the Challenge
Here is my challenge to you today! Join me, every day for 4 weeks, to pray 4 minutes. Then get ready to connect with God like never before!
When God gives, Luke 6:38 says, He gives a gift that is “pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap.” As we redouble our commitment to pray, God redoubles his promise to bless. Nothing pleases Jesus as much as being audaciously trusted.
And you are never more like Jesus than when you pray for others. Pray for this hurting world. Present their case to the giver of bread. And bring your grocery basket. God will give you plenty of blessings to take back to them!
Take the challenge? Sign on at Beforeamen.com. Join me every day for 4 weeks, to pray 4 minutes—it’ll change your life forever!
From Before Amen
Numbers 22
Balak Summons Balaam
Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho.
2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites, 3 and Moab was terrified because there were so many people. Indeed, Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelites.
4 The Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.”
So Balak son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, 5 sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor, who was at Pethor, near the Euphrates River, in his native land. Balak said:
“A people has come out of Egypt; they cover the face of the land and have settled next to me. 6 Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”
7 The elders of Moab and Midian left, taking with them the fee for divination. When they came to Balaam, they told him what Balak had said.
8 “Spend the night here,” Balaam said to them, “and I will report back to you with the answer the Lord gives me.” So the Moabite officials stayed with him.
9 God came to Balaam and asked, “Who are these men with you?”
10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent me this message: 11 ‘A people that has come out of Egypt covers the face of the land. Now come and put a curse on them for me. Perhaps then I will be able to fight them and drive them away.’”
12 But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
13 The next morning Balaam got up and said to Balak’s officials, “Go back to your own country, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.”
14 So the Moabite officials returned to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”
15 Then Balak sent other officials, more numerous and more distinguished than the first. 16 They came to Balaam and said:
“This is what Balak son of Zippor says: Do not let anything keep you from coming to me, 17 because I will reward you handsomely and do whatever you say. Come and put a curse on these people for me.”
18 But Balaam answered them, “Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything great or small to go beyond the command of the Lord my God. 19 Now spend the night here so that I can find out what else the Lord will tell me.”
20 That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you.”
Balaam’s Donkey
21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.
24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.
26 Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”
30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”
“No,” he said.
31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.
32 The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.[g] 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”
34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”
35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.
36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. 37 Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”
38 “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”
39 Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. 41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.
Numbers 22:32 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Read: Romans 4:16-22
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. 17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”[a] This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”[b] 19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.
20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.
Footnotes:
4:17 Gen 17:5.
4:18 Gen 15:5.
Insight
Abraham was 75 when God first told him that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 12:4). But when Abraham noted that both he and Sarah were childless (15:2), God promised that he would have “a son who is your own flesh and blood” (v.4 niv). This promise was 25 years in its making. For Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 (17:17), when their bodies were “already dead” reproductively (Rom. 4:19). Abraham believed in the Lord (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:17), “fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Rom. 4:21).
Resting In God
By Marion Stroud
He did not waver . . . through unbelief . . . being fully convinced that what [God] had promised He was also able to perform. —Romans 4:20-21
It was our last holiday together as a family before our eldest son went off to college. As we filled the back pew in the little seaside church, my heart filled with love as I glanced along the row of my five reasonably tidy children. “Please protect them spiritually and keep them close to You, Lord.” I prayed silently, thinking of the pressures and challenges each of them faced.
The final hymn had a rousing chorus based on the words of 2 Timothy 1:12. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him.” It brought a sense of peace as I was assured that God would keep their souls.
Years have passed since then. There have been times of wandering for some of my children, and outright rebellion for others. Sometimes I’ve wondered about God’s faithfulness. Then I remember Abraham. He stumbled but never failed in his trust in the promise he’d received (Gen. 15:5-6; Rom. 4:20-21). Through years of waiting and mistaken attempts to help things along, Abraham hung on to God’s promise until Isaac was born.
I find this reminder to trust encouraging. We tell God our request. We remember that He cares. We know He is powerful. We thank Him for His faithfulness.
Lord, my patience is often lacking and my timetable
often does not match Yours. Forgive me for my times
of doubt, and help me to trust You more.
Thank You for Your faithfulness.
Some lessons of patience take a long time to learn.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The Secret of Spiritual Consistency
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “…it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.…we preach Christ crucified…” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
WHEN YOU FORCE IT, YOU BREAK IT - #7272
Our friends were kind enough to loan my wife and me their second home where we could get away for a couple days. Now, when you're in somebody else's home, look, you want to be on your best behavior. You know, make sure you don't break anything, and leave it like you found it. Well, I was having a little bit of difficulty getting the front door un-jammed; or unlocked. My wife said, "What are you doing?" And I jokingly said, "I couldn't get it unlocked, so I'm just pushing it open." She said, "No, no. Don't do that." Now, there's a reason we had that little dialogue. Yeah, it's called history.
See, she panicked right away because she knows my history of you know, sometimes trying to make things work, and it doesn't happen, and a couple times you know something got broken. Oh, I got it out okay, and it worked okay but she knows I have this tendency to try to make things work when they don't want to work. So I sometimes get impatient - I'm the only guy on the planet like that, I know - but sometimes I get impatient with things that don't work quickly. Alright, I confess, I've been known to force a door handle and break it. I'm growing, I'm getting better. But you probably aren't going to lend me anything anymore, right?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You Force It, You Break It."
Our word for today from the Word of God; Genesis 16:1, "Now, Sarah, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maid servant named Hagar. So she said to Abram, 'The Lord has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my maid servant." I insert here, "what?" "Go sleep with my maid servant. Perhaps I can build a family through her.' So he slept with Hagar and she conceived." I'm shaking my head.
Here's the history. Abraham and Sarah had been promised a son by God. They had to wait longer than they thought they would have to wait. Apparently they thought it wasn't working. So guess what happened. Sarah has an idea, she says' "maybe we can force it! We'll help God out." And Abraham goes right along with it. Now, here's a new verb for you: to "Hagar". You say, "Well, isn't Hagar like a name? Isn't it the name of this maid servant; this surrogate mother?" Well, actually, it's a noun, but to "Hagar", to make it a verb, well it means to try and make it happen. I'm trying to "Hagar" this. You force it, take it from the expert, you break it.
Thirteen years after Abraham and Sarah tried to force what God had promised, the son God promised came along-Isaac. Now they had a 13-year-old Ishmael on their hands, though. And those two boys were in constant conflict. They're still in conflict today. It's called the Arabs and the Jews descended from Ishmael and Isaac. And many great wars have been fought over that conflict. And it all happened simply because Abraham couldn't wait for God to do it His way and in His timing.
How easy that is to do. You know, right now maybe there's something in your life that isn't working like you think it should, it isn't happening fast enough. Maybe the romance isn't there. Maybe you think "I've got to help God out a little bit here." Maybe the money isn't there and you're trying to figure out some scheme to help God with that. Maybe the future isn't working out the way you want it to. So you're going to try to make it happen. Don't "Hagar" this! Don't force it. Don't grab a wrong way to get a right thing done. You'll pay for that mistake for a long, long time.
Four thousand years later people are still paying for Abraham's "Hagar" solution. So, are you trying to rush it right now? Are you trying to force it? Are you trying to make things happen instead of waiting and watching your God do it? Would you let go before you break it and let God make it work in His way, in His time. Because the Bible says, as for God, His way is perfect. As for my way, it makes a mess.